“I’m not a fire-up guy but I’m as competitive as anybody can be. I’m laid back unless somebody is not hustling or paying attention. I try to keep things as loose as possible. Kids are going to excel not being tight.

“I want them excited and loose every time we play a ball game.”

Shinkan prepares his players in practice so they can play loose.

“I try to let the kids go out there and not put pressure on them during the games,” says Shinkan. “I don’t try to change too much as the game goes on.”

Shinkan, a 1971 Munster graduate, has been Mustangs baseball head coach since the 1986 season. He moved up from assistant following the tragic death of Hall of Famer Mike Niksic in a boating accident.

“He was old school and I loved it,” says Shinkan of Niksic. “He pushed you real hard and he expected a lot out of you. but gave you all the love that he had.

“I’ve been trying to follow the same tradition Mike had. But times are different and kids have changed. You have to adjust here and there.”

Shinkan played freshmen baseball at Ball State University and then got his undergraduate degree at the Muncie school and came back to Munster to begin his teaching career (he now is a geometry teacher). At the time, there were no coaching openings in boys sports so he started in girls track. He would go on to serve as head volleyball coach was on the Munster football staff of Indiana Football Hall of Famer Leroy Marsh from 1987-2015.

When he joined Niksic’s baseball staff a few years later, Shinkan found himself leading both the junior varsity and freshmen teams.

“It was interesting,” says Shinkan. “In the preseason, I had both teams practicing. Then games would start and the JV would plays Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and freshman on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a doubleheader on Saturday. We were playing games six days a week.

There were just three paid positions in Munster baseball — one varsity and two assistants — and that hasn’t changed.

“That’s the way Mike wanted it,” says Shinkan. “That’s the way we did things.”

From his first season in charge, Shinkan has been dividing Munster’s season into thirds.

“That first third, I try to figure out what everybody’s role is,” says Shinkan, who uses the middle third to work on those roles. “Wins and losses are important, but try to get the kids as much playing time as I can. The first part of season, we experiment with lineups. I let players prove to not only me and their teammates, but to themselves that we’re putting them in the right spots.”

By the last third of the season, roles and set and the Mustangs hope to be going after a conference championship and are getting ready for the postseason.

“I’m pretty proud of the program and the success we’ve had down through the years,” says Shinkan.

A 9-1 victory against Evansville North wrapped a 25-9 season and allowed the Mustangs to raise the state championship trophy.

Conference make-up and affiliation has changed for Munster over the year. In 2018, the Northwest Crossroads Conference has six members — Andrean, Highland, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Lowell and Munster. Conference games will be home-and-home series on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesday is left open as rain date.

“I was the one to bring it up at post-conference meetings,” says Shinkan. “We voted on it and we went to that.”

Shinkan has a say in Munster’s non-conference schedule. Working with current AD Brian Clark, he picks as many Duneland Athletic Conference and sectional opponents as he can get.

“I don’t like to come into a sectional without seeing them during the regular season,” says Shinkan. “I try to beef up the schedule. It gets us ready for the conference season and the sectional.”

For years now, the Mustangs have opened the season in Terre Haute South Vigo Braves Baseball Bash. They play one game Friday and two Saturday in round robin with Mt. Vernon (Posey), New Haven and the host school.

“Kyle Kraemer at Terre Haute South puts on a nice tournament,” says Shinkan. “It helps us bond as a team.”

Shinkan is in the habit of developing at least eight pitchers so he can use four (two starters and two relievers) for conference games and four for non-conference contests.

Conference pitchers put in a rotation in the weeks leading up to the sectional.

“I’ve never been one to throw pitchers to the wolves,” says Shinkan. “We’re going to rest that arm.”

What about the advent in 2017 of the new IHSAA pitch count rule (1 to 35 pitches requires 0 days rest; 36 to 60 requires 1 day; 61 to 80 requires 2 days; 81 to 100 requires 3 days; and 101 to 120 requires 4 days)?

“I’ve always followed stuff like that anyway,” says Shinkan. “That’s not a big deal. High school coaches are pretty good with that. Summer coaches are a different story.”

Plenty of talented players have worn the Munster uniform during Shinkan’s career, including Hal Morris who went on to play in the majors and also went into the IHSBCA Hall of Fame.

Bobby Morris, Hal’s brother, hit a walk-off home run in the championship game against Hammond Gavit that gave Shinkan his first sectional baseball title as a coach in 1990. Bobby, who was a second-team all-state shortstop in 1990, now runs the Morris Baseball & Softball Center in Schererville.

Nourie was drafted out of high school by the Chicago White Sox, opted instead to play at Southeast Missouri State University (2003-04) and then pitched in the San Diego Padres system and in independent pro baseball.

Munster plays home games on-campus on a lighted field next to the football field.

“We’re very proud of it,” says Shinkan, who has got to be a sectional host for long time. “This year, we put in a brand new infield and bought a new tarp. Going against tradition, we sodded in the baselines for maintenance reasons. We have a two-story press box. A new batting cage is coming.

“I’m very grateful to the administration for keeping up with things,” says Shinkan.

The veteran coach was humbled and happy when the call from his peers to the IHSBCA Hall of Fame came in 2015 and he joined Mike Niksic and Hal Morris.

“You look at those names that are there,” says Shinkan. “Not only names from Calumet Region. I’m in with Don Mattingly and Gil Hodges. It’s a fraternity. I’m so proud of that fact I was able to attain that.”

In 2018, Shinkan and wife Laura will celebrate 40 years of marriage. The couple have two sons — Scott and Michael. Scott graduated from Munster in 1998 and played three seasons at Wabash College. He and wife Laura have a 2-year-old son, Grady, and one on the way. Michael graduated from MHS in 2004. He played baseball as a freshman then pursued golf.

Bob Shinkan, a 1971 Munster High School graduate, has been head baseball coach at his alma mater since the 1986 season. He went into the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2015.